Details are emerging on a new algorithm called Edison from Ask. The news broke at SES this week, here’s a good overview post from SEO by The Sea.
From what I can grok quickly (I am supposed to offline, of course) this is an update/revision/combination/evolution of Ask’s previous algos from Teoma and Direct Hit. Buzz is it’s a strong step forward. More to come on this as it reveals….
From a statement from Ask found on SEL:
Edison is still in development, so we can’t say too much at this juncture. I can tell you that it’s a next generation algorithm that, among many other things, synthesizes modernized versions of Teoma and DirectHit technologies, as AG said this morning. It’s much more complicated than saying we’re just counting clicks, in the case of DirectHit. The technologies we have, and the patents we hold, go way beyond that. We’re also taking a deeper look at communities and calculating the authorities in those communities. We were really inspired by looking into the universe of user behavior, and what that could tell us, and the social fabric of the Web itself, and what that tells us.
“Alogs”?
Again, this submission has been waiting in SearchMob que for acceptance for over a day…
http://battellemedia.com/searchmob/story/Ask-Algos-will-Mash-Click-Popularity-with-Subject-Specific-Popularity/
AHA…so that’s what the billboards are about. Big plain ads with dark gray background, mostly filled with a bevel-filtered color block and a statement in simple white letters.
I’ve seen two so far…one (in NYC) says “The algorithm killed Jeeves.” The other (in San Francisco) says “The algorithm is from New Jersey.” Ask.com is in tiny letters at the bottom left.
Nothing earth-shattering, but in case anyone was interested…they are certainly going for mass audience attention with this one, I suspect a splashy tv ad campaign is next?
Re: Mass audience attention, too bad the general, billboard-viewing public has no clue what an algorithm is… I also saw “The Algorithm is from New Jersey” in L.A., as well as “The Algorithm is not from China.”
Thanks for clearing that up.
I saw the ad “the algorithm is from New Jersey” off the NJ Turnpike on the Bayonne/Jersey City line. If 20% of my JC neighbors could spell ‘algorithm’ I’d choke.
The other billboard that drives me nuts is “THE ALGORYTHYM is BANNED IN CHINA” this is aboslutely insane…